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Monday, February 18, 2013

This is a review of the Boden & Mini Boden clearance sale at the
Hynes convention center, Boston – February 16, 2013. If you'd like to read updates on Boden sales
both in Boston and Pennsylvania, please see my website here and like my Facebook page here. I will post $5 off coupons for the sales on my facebook page (at least for the Boston sales)

This will be a short review since I did a "targeted strike" and spent a very short time inside the sale. To get a more thorough idea of what the Boden clearance sales are like, check out my post on the previous one here.

I got to the sale around 8 am and was pleased to find under 100 people in line ahead of me. The line behind me (see pic above) was hundreds long by the time the sale opened. To be clear - all your waiting will be done indoors - you do NOT have to wait out on the street! I'm thrilled that I got in early because the Mini Boden stuff seemed to sell out much faster this time, there was less of it than at the last sale, and it was heavily weighted to the larger sizes (11, 12 and 13).

If this had been the first time I'd ever been to a Boden sample sale, I would have left happy. But I was really disappointed to find out that since the previous sale, Boden had raised their prices. I primarily come to the sales for Mini Boden, and the majority of items were $10 at the last sale. This time they were $15 to $25. Here is the new pricing sheet for the Boston sample sales:

For some items, these are great prices. A women's coat for $50 is fantastic if it's normally a $178 coat. But $30 for tops (including light summer tops) or $15 kids' t-shirts seemed excessive to me - sometimes you can get them at this price right on the website!

I first hit the boys table and picked up 11 items, most of which are pictured above. The majority of the items I got were heavy, winter items (*love* Mini Boden lined pants for boys) By the time I was finished, everything under a size 12 had been snapped up. I looked briefly at the shoes and women's coats sections and didn't find anything I wanted. I was about to head over to the women's tables and look at the sweaters and dresses when I got a call from my husband asking me to come home (one of the kids had scratched him in the eye - he's fine now). If the prices had been lower I would have stayed anyway, but I was very concerned about getting stuck in the gigantic line to pay again... at August's sale I had waited for 2 hours and 20 minutes to get out. So I decided to get home and skip the women's stuff. In hindsight I probably should have stayed longer.

I parked at the Prudential Center parking garage and only paid $12 for my parking since I had my ticket validated (you're supposted to make a purchase at a store in the Pru. mall of $10+, but I just bought a coffee at Dunkin Donuts and they stamped it for me)

I ended up spending $167 at the sale. I was able to use my discount coupon only once - apparently they've cracked down on people using multiple coupons. Some of my facebook fans have told me that in all the craziness, they were overcharged for their purchases, or knew others who were - so if you go to an upcoming sale, CAREFULLY check over your receipt before you leave the hall.

Although I was somewhat disappointed in the Mini Boden selection and higher prices at this sale, I will certainly go back for the next one, which will likely be in August 2013. I am also very, very excited that Mini Boden is now occasionally being featured for sale on discount site Zulily. In mid-January they had a great Mini Boden sale which, unfortunately, sold out in about 10 minutes. But I managed to snap up a few things - and they were the new line, this upcoming season's stuff. The live sample sales are selling catalog returns, so they do not normally have the very newest catalog items. Today (Feb 18th) I found that Zulily had some girls' spring clothing on sale for 50% off, but it was not announced - I found it by searching - so it never hurts to search in their search bar for Mini Boden. So far they have not featured Boden women's but I am keeping my fingers crossed!!

If you went to the Boden sale please leave a comment with any useful information I may have missed, or tell us how you did!

Last but not least, if you want MORE discounted Boden and Mini Boden and you don't feel like leaving your house, here are a few ways to save money on Boden right at home.

To get regular updates on Boden coupon codes (I never personally order without at least a 20% off code) - join Sample Sale Mom Deals on Facebook, as I regularly post the current coupon codes.

Online discounter Zulily sometimes has Boden sales at up to 50% off catalog prices. You can also search in their search bar any time and they often have a few Boden items on sale. To be alerted about upcoming Boden sales on Zulily,you can click the white heart next to "Boden" on the site so that it turns red. They also have sales on plenty of other awesome brands - some of my favorites include Hanna Andersson, Tea Collection, Kate Quinn Organics, Keen & Sophie Catalou.

Several other sites now occasionally sell Boden "vouchers" - For $35 you can buy a $50 Boden voucher good on anything on the site. There is usually a one or two per household restriction, per voucher sale. Sites that sell Boden vouchers include Zulily,and Rue La La,and I post all of these sales by the day they start on my facebook group

If you love Mini Boden, check out Hatley, which is high-quality, (read the reviews) to-die-for cute, and can be much less expensive.

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Saturday, January 19, 2013

My son and I made this wrapping paper using a pattern of his drawings to wrap his holiday gifts for some of our friends & relatives. This is great for Valentine's Day, Christmas, Mother's Day presents, etc...

Stuff you and your child need to do this:
1. Black sharpie marker and paper
2. Some water-based colored markers for coloring in drawings
3. A computer (preferably with design software, but microsoft word will work)
4. Either a scanner or a digital camera with a close-up setting
5. Either an Inkjet printer (a large-format one if you want to print large sheets & Epson matte printer paper in the largest size your printer can print OR take your file to Kinkos or Staples and have them print it.

1.) First, have your child do several drawings in black sharpie. A
regular child's black marker won't work, because when they color over it
the colors will run and look muddy. Let the outline dry. SIMPLE
drawings work best, like the "Robots" shown above. The proportions
should be roughly square - not short and wide or tall and skinny.

2.) Your child can then color in each drawing.

3.) Either scan in each drawing with your scanner, or shoot a digital pic of each one, separately.

4.)
If you have photo editing software you can brighten the artwork or up
the contrast. Some photo editing software usually comes free when you
buy a scanner.

5.) Place your scanned files into Word,
Illustrator, or photoshop, and shrink them down until they are under an
inch high at 150+ dpi. Then copy and paste each one multiple times. Your file should be at least 13 by 19 inches unless you will only be wrapping small gifts.

6.)
Print out your sheet of shrunken drawings onto the Epson matte printer paper. This paper is *amazing* - it is a graphic designer secret. It makes
colors look brighter and more vibrant. It comes in two weights, the lighter weight is best for wrapping paper but I used the heavier weight since that's what I had sitting around. It is available in 8.5 by 11, 11 by 17 and the large size - buy whichever size is the max printable area for your printer.

Gift Tag
For the gift tag like the ones shown above, you'll need either Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator - take a black and white drawing (no color) with your child's writing underneath, scan it in, autotrace in illustrator or select in photoshop and color in accordingly. I had Alex use a silver marker to write the recipient's name on each tag.

If you're looking for a gift for your child to make for people, see my earlier post that goes along with this one - the same artwork can also be made into fridge magnets like this.

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Monday, January 7, 2013

Post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase through one of my links, Sample Sale Mom will be compensated a small percentage of commission. Thanks for supporting Sample Sale Mom!

This is a nice gift your child can give to teachers, friends, grandparents, etc... that they will actually USE. And they last forever! Well, at least a decade... I have some that I made with my own artwork 10+ years ago and they are still in use on the fridge and in great shape. This project is best for kids who are around 5+ so they have the manual dexterity for it.

1.) First, have your child do several drawings in black sharpie. A regular child's black marker won't work, because when they color over it the colors will run and look muddy. Let the outline dry. SIMPLE drawings work best, like the "Robots" shown above. The proportions should be roughly square - not short and wide or tall and skinny.

2.) Your child can then color in each drawing.

3.) Either scan in each drawing with your scanner, or shoot a digital pic of each one, separately.

4.) If you have photo editing software you can brighten the artwork or up the contrast. Some photo editing software usually comes free when you buy a scanner.

5.) Place your scanned files into Word, Illustrator, or photoshop, and shrink them down until they are under an inch high. Then copy and paste each one multiple times.

6.) Print out your sheet of shrunken drawings onto the Epson matte printer paper. This paper is *amazing* - it is a graphic design secret. It makes colors look brighter and more vibrant, and it is nice and thick so you can't see through it at all.

7.) Cut the paper into strips of drawings and use your punch to punch out each one as shown in the photo (bottom right corner) above.

8.) Put magnets on a slick surface (like a cookie sheet or plastic, NOT paper, which will stick) Use Mod Podge to attach each mini-artwork to each magnet, then coat each one on the top and sides. Let it dry and do a second coat.

9.) If you want to make the backer shown above, take one of your kid's black and white drawings (not colored in), scan or photograph that, and plop it into Word. Created that black frame around it and some type with your child's name. Print and cut out along the black frame. Use double-sided tape to attach the magnets (don't use the Mod Podge as the paper will be permanently stuck.)

My son gave these out to some of our friends & relatives at Christmas and they were a big hit! We plan to do some different themes in the future.